Birmingham Southern Railroad freight depot
The Birmingham Southern Railroad freight depot is a vacant two-story brick building located at 14 14th Street North on the site of the former Linn Iron Works in Birmingham's Railroad Reservation.
It was constructed around 1928 by the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company's Birmingham Southern Railroad (BSRR). A second story was added to the building, along with a shed-roofed warehouse to the rear in the 1940s for freight storage. The building continued to serve as TCI's primary downtown freight depot into the 1970s.
The depot was also used by the Central of Georgia Railroad (CofG), the Illinois Central Railroad and the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad.
The warehouse addition and part of the original depot were later subdivided for leasable storage units. A fire in the upper part of the structure was contained before it caused structural damage.
In 2010 David Schneider of Anniston's Schneider Historic Preservation prepared an application for recognition of the depot and a nearby TCI Warehouse as contributing structures to a proposed Birmingham Southern Railroad Freight Depot Historic District.
In 2014 Alagasco announced plans to demolish the vacant structure as part of the redevelopment of the entire block as a new Alagasco Metro Operations Center. Some materials salvaged from the depot were donated to Rickwood Field for reconstruction of the stadium's batting building.
References
- Natta, Andre (January 13, 2014) "New Alagasco operations center means demolition of historic freight station" The Terminal - accessed January 13, 2014